The world's first peer to peer lender, Zopa has now lent over £400 million to UK borrowers since it launched in 2005. Record lending levels highlight how consumers are fully embracing peer to peer lending as an alternative way to save and borrow which bypasses the banks to get a better deal.
The company is showing significant levels of growth by lending a further £100 million in less than six months having passed the £300 million lent mark in the second quarter of 2013.
Zopa is now the most competitive and leading loans provider in the UK offering a 4.8% Representative APR. Zopa sits at the top of all the well-known money comparisons tables in front of the High St banks and supermarkets as consumers search for good rates and options of no fees for early repayment.
Zopa continues to support British savers by offering an inflation beating return of 4.4%, encouraging thousands of consumers to ditch the banks and embrace peer to peer lending to get a reliable, low risk and predictable return on their money. Zopa currently has over 43,000 active savers lending between £10 and over £1 million.
The UK's peer to peer lending industry is growing at a rapid rate with it set to lend £1 billion per annum by 2016. Zopa expects to lend £200 million this year alone, with projections to reach £500 million lent in total ahead of planned regulation due in April 2014. Zopa is the founding member of the P2PFA and has led the call for regulation in the sector and believes that it will help take peer to peer lending even more mainstream and encourage further trust from consumers.
Recent investor in Zopa, Tim Levene, Managing Partner of Augmentum Capital which is backed by the FTSE listed RIT Capital, whose substantial shareholder is Lord Rothschild and family said, "We are really excited for Zopa reaching this lending milestone of £400m. The growth Zopa has shown in the last 12 months is incredible as not many businesses can boast a rate of 200% year on year growth. We are proud to be investors in such a pioneering business and see no end in sight to the limits of Zopa and changing the way people save and borrow money."
Giles Andrews, CEO of Zopa said, "Lending £400 million is a fantastic achievement and a great sign of the appetite that UK savers and borrowers have to get a better deal through peer to peer lending. Zopa is growing faster than ever lending at a rate of 3 times to the same period last year. We are very proud to reach this industry milestone by the support of our savers and borrowers who use us. We will soon reach half a billion pounds lent which we estimate will coincide with Zopa becoming regulated in April next year. UK savers seem to have been forgotten by the banking establishment, so it is not surprising more people are giving Zopa a try."